Gary Bettenhausen Leaves Roger Penske Without a Driver
In the 1971-1972 off-season, Roger Penske signed a two-year contract with Gary Bettenhausen to join Mark Donohue as part of his race team. In 1971, Bettenhausen was the USAC Sprint Car Champion and finished seventh in the USAC Marlboro Championship.
The year started well. Bettenhausen won the Trentonian 200 in Trenton, New Jersey. He led 138 laps in the 1972 Indianapolis 500 before his car developed ignition issues. He finished 14th.
On the night before the 1972 Tony Bettenhausen 200 at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds in mid-August, Gary Bettenhausen participated in a 40-lap sprint car race in Toledo. Bettenhausen was challenging Rollie Beale for the lead. As the two cars went into the second turn on the 38th lap, they touched, and Bettenhausen lost control of his sprint car. He did a half-spin and hit the outside wall. When the rescue crew found him, he was unconscious and had a badly broken arm.
That left Roger Penske without a driver for the Tony Bettenhausen 200. Penske enlisted the help of Bud Poorman, Goodyear Racing Tires’ head. He wanted Gordon Johncock to drive Sunoco McLaren. Unfortunately, Johncock had just moved to Franklin, Indiana, and they didn’t have his unlisted phone number or address.
Poorman called Hastings, Michigan, where Johncock grew up, hoping to locate one of Johncock’s relatives. The operator told him she could not give him the phone number of every Johncock there. She said she needed at least a first initial. Poorman told her to start with “A, B, C, and D,” but the operator quickly told him she couldn’t do that.
Around 4 a.m., Poorman’s next strategy was to drive to Franklin, a small town outside of Indianapolis, and start an all-night search. He hoped to find a newspaper boy or a policeman who knew where Johncock lived. About an hour later, he found out where Johncock lived. He went to the house and found Johncock’s shoes outside. He began banging on the door. No one answered.
Poorman was about to give up when he saw Johncock’s wife peeking from behind the curtain. Johncock didn’t want her to do that because “then he’ll know we’re home.” The banging on the door increased until Johncock peeked out, discovered it was Poorman, and they let him in.
Poorman told Johncock that Penske needed him for the race. Johncock’s replied he had purchased a $40 croquet set and planned to stay home. They had plans to play croquet that night. Johncock finally relented, and Penske sent his Learjet to transport him to Wisconsin.
Arriving at the racetrack, he learned that Penske Racing wanted to use the radio, so he had to use Bettenhausen’s helmet, which was a size too big. Penske Racing added foam padding, so it fit. Johncock’s car’s transmission failed on the 11th lap of the 200-lap race.
Without a driver for the upcoming races, Penske later quipped, “I think I’ll run an ad in the paper for a race driver with three years of USAC experience who’ll sign a three-year contract with me and drive only my race car.”
Bettenhausen was out for the remainder of the season.